That travelling interview thing
pdcawley made with the meme and asked me some questions. If you want me to interview you, leave a comment.
1. Why DrHyde? Why not MrJekyll?
I plead illiteracy. I "needed" an impressive name to put in the high score tables of arcade machines and so I thought I'd take something literary to make me look good. Then I screwed up. No, I hadn't read the book at the time.
2. What's wrong with blogs?
Nothing at all. There's something wrong with me. I seem to have instinctively cringed away from them without actually bothering to investigate what they were all about. So much for my being rational and progressive. There's plenty wrong with (or at least banal, trivial and utterly uninteresting about) the *contents* of the vast majority of blogs, but I shouldn't let that bother me, and it doesn't make blogs a bad thing per se.
3. The world changes overnight, society is replaced by your ideal society, no bloody revolution required. How does the world look?
Assuming that we're stuck with current technology (if we're allowed fancy technology with chocolate sprinkles and everything it'd look much like The Culture), the world looks like a dictatorship. That may sound odd for a socialist. Trouble is, for true socialism to arise from capitalism, sufficient numbers of the working class need to be unafraid of the consequences of attempting their revolution, and the forces of reaction - such as most of the tabloid press - need to be repressed. Obviously, the consequences of a failed revolution would be terrible. So, we need a benevolent dictatorship which would reign in the excesses of capitalism while also educating the populace and encouraging political activity. Then the people will be able to take back the power that was stolen from them in the distant past, as they will no longer be afraid of asserting themselves.
My desired dictatorship would not be afraid of exercising its power, nor would it hide its actions or ambitions. It would be ruthless when necessary - but only as far as is necessary and no further.
This is similar to what Lenin and the Bolsheviks envisaged. Unfortunately, they had to deal with a society that was overwhelmingly not working class, and also with being invaded almost immediately by foreign armies which were superior in almost all ways. Those conditions were, errm, not conducive to socialism.
4. When do you want to pick up this beer mug?
"Bother" said Dave. "I'd forgotten all about that." Errm, dunno, I'm not often in your neck of the woods. Can you post it to me and I'll buy you something off your wishlist to pay for postage and stuff?
5. What do you expect to be doing tomorrow? In a week? A year? 5 years?
Tomorrow, the same old shit. In a week, there may be a big change, but I don't want to say more in a public place. This time next year I hope to be entirely debt free apart from my mortgage, and be worrying a lot less. And in five years - no idea. But almost certainly not living in this country any more. By then we'll have Done The Right Thing and ditched sterling for the euro, and will be more closely tied to the rest of Europe. The common currency and harmonised taxation etc will make moving around in the Union a whole lot less hassle. I expect to be living in some other European country then. What I'll be doing there I have no idea.
And in thirty years - I'll be nearly 60, and will have retired. Hopefully to a small hill farm where I will live surrounded by sheep.